Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, tells the story of a woman named Offred in the near-future who lives in the Republic of Gilead, which is a new republic formed after the United States government was taken over by Christian fundamentalists. The group calls itself the Sons of Jacob, and their views of religion resemble Old Testament values. In Gilead, women have been stripped of all their rights; Offred’s name is a designation composed of the words, ‘Of Fred,’ because she belongs to Fred, one of the commanders of the Republic of Gilead. Offred belongs to a class of women known as handmaids, which is a class of women valued for their reproductive potential.
The novel uses both present-day descriptions of Offred’s life, told in first person, as well as flashbacks which allow the reader to understand how Gilead came to be, and a bit about Offred’s past. Offred was previously married to a man that she had an affair with when he was married to another woman. He left her, and had a daughter with Offred. During the initial days of the revolution, Offred and her family tried to escape to Canada. However, the escape attempt failed, and Offred was separated from her family and never saw them again. Once captured, Offred became a handmaid assigned to the Commander.
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Offred is often forced to be part of a ceremony, where she has to have sex with the Commander while his wife is present. The purpose is to make her pregnant, because there are declining birth rates due to environmental hazards and nuclear waste. However, the Commander soon begins developing feelings for Offred, and they meet in secret in his study where he allows her to read and plays games with her. His feelings are known when he starts asking Offred to kiss him at the end of these sessions.
The Commander takes Offred to a brothel, called Jezebel’s, where women who reject Gilead society are given the opportunity to either become prostitutes, or work cleaning up radioactive hazards. Offred meets an old friend named Moira, and we see a bit more about how Gilead society came to be.
The Commander’s wife, Serena Joy, soon convinces Offred to start sleeping with the Commander’s chauffeur, Nick, so that Offred will become pregnant and Serena will no longer have to share her husband. Serena wants Offred to become pregnant and tell the Commander that he is the father. Offred agrees, in exchange for information about her daughter, whom she has not seen since the failed escape.
Offred and Nick begin the secret affair, but also start developing feelings for one another. At the same time, Offred learns from her friend Ofglen that there is a resistance movement known as the Mayday Resistance. However, Ofglen is soon exposed as being part of the resistance movement, and instead of capture, Ofglen commits suicide. Serena then finds out that Offred and the Commander have been having a relationship that extended beyond the regularly-scheduled monthly intercourse. Offred thinks about also committing suicide, but is able to confide somewhat in Nick, although she is not sure how much she is able to trust him. Soon, Offred begins to think that she has become pregnant.
The novel ends after she tells Nick about her pregnancy, and she is taken away in a mysterious van. Nick tells her she is being taken by the resistance movement she was considering joining, but she does not know whether Nick is truly on the side of the resistance, or simply pretending to be. A coda follows, in which Offred’s story is explained to come from the discovery of recordings she had made during this time.
